Hex Statistics
Hexes have a variety of statistics which are not present in the pathfinder core rules. While settlements have Corruption, Crime, Danger, Economy, Law, Lore and Society scores as detailed in the standard settlement rules, areas of wilderness instead have a different set of statistics. Settlements also have one extra statistic, Security, which acts as a measure of protection for that settlement. While most of these statistics aren't necessary to learn about in detail for players, they provide a quick indication of how likely certain missions are to succeed. All of these statistics apart from Area Level, Control and Type are measured in values from 0 to 100, although Threat and Security are essentially inverses, so a Threat of 59 can be seen as a Security of -59. Area Level The area level of an area represents how tough that area is to explore, in terms of how difficult individual encounters are. It's just like a challenge rating, only for an area. Of course, in a pinch, it's entirely possible to send a higher-level team to crush a lower-level area, or send a low-level team to set up a deathtrap for higher-level enemies, but their talents may be better used elsewhere. Control Put simply, who owns this hex? Usually, the answer is "None". Ideally, you probably want this to say "Intrepid Expedition" - that's you! Loyalty Loyalty is to a particular faction or cause. It's a measure of how loyal the citizenry are to the cause in question. Generally, at least 50 loyalty is enough to ensure the populace won't rebel, although they may still be dissatisfied with the current government. 100 loyalty means that the citizens won't cause you any problems; 0 loyalty means they will protest, riot or rebel against you every turn! You can have a loyalty value in a hex you don't actually control, but it doesn't do anything for as long as you don't control that hex, unless that hex rebels. A hex that rebels has a percentage chance to be rebelling as your loyalist army equal to their loyalty to you, so long as that loyalty is higher than their loyalty to the hex's controller. If that rebelling army would belong to multiple factions, it belongs to the one they have more loyalty to (it's entirely possible for their combined loyalties to total over 100%, so the rolls are made separately). Production This is a variety of statistics, which together describe what resources the hex can produce and how much of each. Arcane Magical writings and minor magic items are used to perform society-wide feats of accomplishment, such as re-activating an inactive waypoint. Construction Building materials, important for any kind of building from fortifications to fisheries. Food Eat it to live. If your food production is lower than your population, then you'll eventually have problems. Intel Want to know what your enemies are up to? Spend a bit of intel to find out. Manufacture Seize the means of production, comrade: manufacture is a really important resource if you want to make actual items rather than just making walls and eating well. Mineral Iron, copper, and certain crystals with practical uses all fall into this category. Plants Any useful plant you don't eat or build with falls into this category, whether poisonous, medicinal, recreational or otherwise helpful. Trade Gold, spices and diamonds are all very nice, but they're not actually used for much. Still, they're the closest thing to a trade standard you're going to get, which is nice when you want to get a resource you're low on. Security and Threat "Defence" and "Danger" were both taken. The threat level of an area determines how dangerous missions undertaken in that area are in terms of how many encounters you are likely to face. The security level of a settlement, on the other hand, is how safe that settlement is and how hard it is to take by force. A hex containing a small settlement may have a threat level and a security level, representing the small safe haven of the settlement in the dangerous area around it. If you try to go on a specific mission - for example, to scavenge - in an unexplored hex, the threat level is considered to be 100. Type The terrain type is either Desert, Forest, Jungle, Plains, Scrubland, Swamp, Mountain, Tundra or Aquatic. This determines many of the features that will appear in that terrain. Also, apart from scrubland, each of these corresponds to a ranger's favoured terrain type. Floors of towers have the Urban type and sub-floors of pits have the Underground subtype. Scrubland Scrublands are rocky wastes with occasional vegetation, small areas of stagnant water, and patches of arable land. The secure rock foundations make them ideal for construction, although it's not easy setting up a permanent city on scrublands alone.